“Ring of Memory” made from Ceracem®BSI UHPFRC for the Centenary of the Great War, in Notre Dame de Lorette

The international memorial in Notre-Dame de Lorette, built in the commune of Ablain-Saint-Nazaire (62), designed by Atelier d’Architecture Philippe Prost, forms an elliptical ring 129.00m by 75.00m, built in the vicinity of the existing military cemetery. The work covers a 328-metre perimeter. It is a pseudo-ellipse made from B.S.I. type ultra high-performance fibre-reinforced concrete 49 of which form a curved footbridge 125 metres long on 4 supports. The vertical position of the box section beam is located behind the commemorative plaques for the 600,000 who died. Only the thickness of the passageway embedded into this beam is visible. This technique means visitors never see the primary structure of the ring and this gives it an airy feel as if it were suspended above ground. The segments were assembled by pre-stressing and post-tensioning performed on site. The project development work was carried out with Professor Victor Davidovici and Jean-Marc Gley, the Quality Technical Director from the inspection agency BTP Consultants.